Saturday, September 28, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Battle of the Books: Parent Letter and Book List
The book lis for the 2013-2014 Battle of the Books has been chosen!! Please take a look at the parent letter as well as the list of Titles! I will be working to acquire as many of the Battle titles this year for our classroom library. You can also find these titles at local libraries and if one or more are of particular interest to you, you could pick them up at your local book store.
We will be reading some of the Battle Books this year as read alouds with the whole class. 4th Graders may also choose to read any title as their independent reading book. Many 4th graders last year found reading the harder titles at home with a parent or family members a successful way to get through some of the more challenging Titles.
We will keep a tally of how many battle books students read on our Data wall to keep us motivated throughout the year!
We will be reading some of the Battle Books this year as read alouds with the whole class. 4th Graders may also choose to read any title as their independent reading book. Many 4th graders last year found reading the harder titles at home with a parent or family members a successful way to get through some of the more challenging Titles.
We will keep a tally of how many battle books students read on our Data wall to keep us motivated throughout the year!
Let the Battle Begin!
Build Your Wild Self and Edmodo
Yesterday we started building our Edmodo profiles! We started by creating profile pictures on buildyourwildself.com.
Build Your Wild Self is a site that lets you design yourself as a creature with different animal parts. When you are through it lets your know what your name would be if you were all of those animals combined. Pretty Cool!
We learned how to take a screen shot of a picture and we also learned how to upload it to Edmodo.
Take a look at us in action!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Global Read Aloud
We are super excited to be apart of the Global Read Aloud this year! Across the world students will be reading the book Out of My Mind starting next week. We will be connecting with two classrooms in both Michigan and Louisiana over edmodo and Skype!
Take a look at the video we used to introduce ourselves to both classes of 4th graders!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Field Trip Thursday!
Our Field Trip to the University Science Fair as well as the Geology Museum will be this Thursday. We will be leaving promptly at 8:30 so please make sure your child is on time to school so he or she is not left behind. Many students ordered school lunch, and those will be made and ready to go Thursday AM. If your child did not turn in a slip for school lunch, please remember to send a cold lunch with them on Thursday. Thanks!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Take a Look at this Fabulous Group of 4th Graders!
Im a lucky teacher this year! Such a wonderful group of kiddos! Take a look at our first class picture!
MES Shirts tomorrow!
Tomorrow is our last day of Spirit Week! 4th graders should wear their green MES shirts to school!
Team Rock Paper Scissors
Recently we teamed up against Ms. Price's class to play a fun game of team rock paper scissors! The rules are: each team has to come to a consensus about what they are going to throw: either rock, paper, or scissors. Both teams step up to their lines and the leader calls out rock, paper, scissors---SHOOT! Both teams present the hand signal they agreed on, whichever team wins tries to tag the losing team as they run back to their home base. Anyone they tag now joins the winning team.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
We're Off to a Great Start!
Yippee! This year is off to a great start! We are really on our way to developing a fabulous classroom community!
Let me first start with a few announcements and then I will update you on the happenings of our classroom:
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Picture Retake is Friday, September 13th. Sorry for the last notice, we were just informed. If you child did not have their picture taken, they will need to have one taken on Friday even if they don't plan on ordering any pictures. If your child wants to retake their picture, they will need to bring back in the first set of pictures to be able to retake and get a second set of pictures.
Our first field trip with be Thursday, September 26. We will be heading downtown Madison to the Universities science fair, which will be followed by an experience with the Geology Museum. This will kick of Science in our classroom, and will be a great bridge from what the 4th graders learned in 3rd grade. Look for the permission slip to come home shortly, and please send it back as soon as you are able.
If your family has not turned in the Blog Permission form please do so (I will send extras home if need be) I have some great first and second week of school pictures I would like to post, so you can see how we have begun to build our community and the learning we are already taking part in.
LEARNING UPDATES!
Reading: We are currently working on positive reading behaviors in our classroom. We have been actively building reading stamina and are already up to 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time! WOW! We have been discussing why we love to read, our favorite books and series, how to pick good fit books, and we have explored and picked books out of our classroom library. Whew! We have been busy! We will start very soon with strategy groups and individual reading conferences.
Your child will be required to read 20 (or more if they choose) minutes every week night. They will log this time on a reading log that should stay in their take home folder. It is very important that this reading log is accurate as I will use it as a data collection tool as well as will use it during our individual conferences. I have told them that I am not as concerned about the parent signature, but rather that it is filled out every night, and that you sign when you are able.
Math: We have begun math this year by taking a beginning of the year assessment, so I can find out more information about each child as a math learner. We are also working on collaborative problem solving. Soon we will begin the everyday math unit 1 which focuses on line, shape, and angles.
Science: We have begun learning about the scientific method, and will use it with some simple experiments. Soon we will transfer that knowledge into starting some of our 4th grade science units.
Writing: We have begun working on some of our structures and routines for writing. We have been writing off different journal prompts, and getting our brains and hands ready to write more and more. Soon we will begin lessons on writing realistic fiction.
Please let me know if you have any questions! :)
Let me first start with a few announcements and then I will update you on the happenings of our classroom:
ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Picture Retake is Friday, September 13th. Sorry for the last notice, we were just informed. If you child did not have their picture taken, they will need to have one taken on Friday even if they don't plan on ordering any pictures. If your child wants to retake their picture, they will need to bring back in the first set of pictures to be able to retake and get a second set of pictures.
Our first field trip with be Thursday, September 26. We will be heading downtown Madison to the Universities science fair, which will be followed by an experience with the Geology Museum. This will kick of Science in our classroom, and will be a great bridge from what the 4th graders learned in 3rd grade. Look for the permission slip to come home shortly, and please send it back as soon as you are able.
If your family has not turned in the Blog Permission form please do so (I will send extras home if need be) I have some great first and second week of school pictures I would like to post, so you can see how we have begun to build our community and the learning we are already taking part in.
LEARNING UPDATES!
Reading: We are currently working on positive reading behaviors in our classroom. We have been actively building reading stamina and are already up to 20 minutes of uninterrupted reading time! WOW! We have been discussing why we love to read, our favorite books and series, how to pick good fit books, and we have explored and picked books out of our classroom library. Whew! We have been busy! We will start very soon with strategy groups and individual reading conferences.
Your child will be required to read 20 (or more if they choose) minutes every week night. They will log this time on a reading log that should stay in their take home folder. It is very important that this reading log is accurate as I will use it as a data collection tool as well as will use it during our individual conferences. I have told them that I am not as concerned about the parent signature, but rather that it is filled out every night, and that you sign when you are able.
Math: We have begun math this year by taking a beginning of the year assessment, so I can find out more information about each child as a math learner. We are also working on collaborative problem solving. Soon we will begin the everyday math unit 1 which focuses on line, shape, and angles.
Science: We have begun learning about the scientific method, and will use it with some simple experiments. Soon we will transfer that knowledge into starting some of our 4th grade science units.
Writing: We have begun working on some of our structures and routines for writing. We have been writing off different journal prompts, and getting our brains and hands ready to write more and more. Soon we will begin lessons on writing realistic fiction.
Please let me know if you have any questions! :)
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